Only 1 arrest in year

POWAY  In the past year the Poway Sheriff’s Department has conducted five DUI Sobriety checkpoints within the city. If you judge such things by number of arrests, they haven’t been very successful.

“The focus of this operation.” the department has said in news releases after each checkpoint, “was the apprehension of suspects who are determined to be operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and/or under the influence of drugs.”

Total number of vehicles that passed through the checkpoints: 7,291.

Total number of vehicles screened by deputies: 3,429

Total number of drivers arrested for drunken driving: 1

It’s not that Poway doesn’t have its share of drunk drivers, Sheriff’s Traffic Sgt. David Cheever said. Poway patrol deputies routinely make DUI arrests. But for some reason intoxicated drivers aren’t going through the checkpoints.

“I don’t know the reason,” Cheever said Thursday. He speculated that perhaps social media is partly responsible as people tweet and Facebook checkpoint locations to their friends.

The checkpoints have been funded by a yearlong $37,600 grant from the state’s Office of Traffic Safety, said the office’s grant coordinator, Wayne Ziese. Each checkpoint costs a bit more than $7,500 and the money must be used for checkpoints, Ziese said. Deputies work overtime to man the checkpoints and the state grant pays their wages.

The past three Poway checkpoints, two in August and one in May, resulted in no DUI arrests. A checkpoint in March produced one arrest, and a checkpoint in December came up empty.

The checkpoints do serve other purposes, Cheever said. During each one numerous unlicensed drivers or people driving on suspended licenses were cited and usually a car or two is impounded at each.

Drivers are also given educational materials about the penalties associated with drunken driving as well as notification of the city’s Social Host ordinance which can hold people accountable for underage drinkers at a party hosted by an adult.

The most recent Poway checkpoint was last Friday night. At the same time in Chula Vista a checkpoint there resulted in two DUI arrests. The next night, in Imperial Beach, two more were arrested for the same crime.

The weekend before, 12 DUI arrests were made at a checkpoint in downtown San Diego.